June 30: Excessive Heat Next Week

Today finally brought much more comfortable conditions to the area, with high temperatures in the 70s with mostly sunny skies. The next few days will continue to be comfortable and dry, however the heat and humidity will return afterwards, and will be even worse than they were so far this year.

Hurricane Alex Summary: Alex is now making landfall in northern Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane, just near southern Texas, after tracking through the Gulf of Mexico. Alex kept taking tracks different than the model forecasts, first moving due north, east of the models, then due west, south of the models, and now it's moving northwest, north of the models.

Alex is also a very large storm, which happened mainly due to its pressure deepening while it was a TS, but the winds were only slightly intensifying, leading to a tropical storm with a pressure equivalent to a category 1 hurricane, and Alex increasing in size. Its pressure and wind differences were the most impressive this morning, when it had 80 mph winds but a low pressure of 959 mb, equal to that of a Category 3 hurricane.

Tomorrow's Forecast:

Tomorrow will continue with the comfortable conditions, and should be slightly colder than today. High temperatures will be in the lower to mid 70s inland, and in the mid to upper 70s for the rest of the area. Once again, mostly sunny skies are expected, with no precipitation.

As with today, most of the region should also stay dry, with the only areas of rain being in northern New England, where scattered showers are possible, along with very chilly temperatures, in the 50s and 60s.

Friday And Saturday: Warming Up

The coldest temperatures of this time period should be on Friday morning, where low temperatures will be in the upper 40s inland, unusually chilly for this time of the year. The rest of the area will be in the mid to occasionally upper 50s, except for NYC which should be in the upper 50s to lower 60s. High temperatures will warm up into the lower to mid 70s inland, and the upper 70s elsewhere.

Saturday will already start the warm up, with high temperatures reaching the mid to upper 80s away from the coast. Mostly sunny skies are expected on both days with no rain.

Major Heat Wave Potential Sunday-Wednesday

Sunday will mark the first day of what could be the biggest heat wave since June 2008. High temperatures will rise into the lower to mid 90s away from the coast. Monday and Tuesday should be the warmest days of this heat wave, and with 850 mb temperatures potentially between 20c and 24c, high temperatures are likely to rise into the upper 90s on both days away from the coast, with lower 100s also possible. With dew points in the 60s, the heat index may reach the 100s.

Wednesday should continue with the hot temperatures but should be slightly cooler than Tuesday, with high temperatures likely to be in the mid to upper 90s. By Thursday, a cold front may approach, bringing widely scattered showers and thunderstorms, however this will bring little relief from the heat, as the very warm air mass persists.